


My Favourite Gift is You

by Phan_of_Shipping



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Baking, Christmas, Dancing, Fluff, M/M, References to Constantine (NBC), briefly mentioned past abuse, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 12:38:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17141912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phan_of_Shipping/pseuds/Phan_of_Shipping
Summary: John had never spent Christmas with someone he loved, or someone who loved him.This year was different; this year John has Dez and Dez has John.Together, they make their own Christmas traditions and fall even deeper in love.





	My Favourite Gift is You

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy...

This is not where John expected to find himself. 

Usually when he says that, it means he has found himself in some dark pit with the odds ever stacked against him.

This was much different. 

"Cheers, love." John smiled as Dez placed a cup of steaming tea on the coffee table.

On the coffee table of his rented apartment. Which he shares - with his boyfriend.

Unexpected, as he did say.

Dez snaked his arm around John's shoulders, who then rested his head gently on Dez's arm. 

"Have you got work later?" Asked John after a few moments of silence.

"I was supposed to, but the good thing with being the owner is that you can give yourself the day off and there's more than enough college kids who want to get their Christmas overtime," Grinned Dez, "So I'm going to spend the _whole_ day with you."

"Someone help me!" Joked John fondly as Dez leaned down and pressed a kiss on John's lips.

John rested his head back on Dez's shoulder - Dez often teased John on their height difference but John didn't seem to mind when he could slot perfectly in next to him. 

"So what should we do today then?" Asked Dez

"Well I wouldn't mind just staying here." Offered Constantine with a trademark smirk.

"Come on, Johnny, it's almost Christmas!" Dez responded.

"I hadn't noticed." Groaned Constantine, glancing his eyes across the various fairy lights, tinsel and Christmas tree that adorned their loft - "their" was a word he was still getting used to.

"Well I think you need to get into the Christmas spirit more. We can do something together, share traditions." Offered Dez with enthusiasm.

"I don't think so Desmond." Warned John.

"Johnny, it would be fun - it's Christmas Eve!" Tried Dez again.

"Christmas traditions in my _family_ was my Dad finding any excuse to go to the pub to get blind drunk, to then come home and try to find where I'd hidden in the house to remind me what a killer I was. No Christmas day, no presents, no traditions. Just painful reminders.” John returned heatedly, the softer man from before disappearing slightly beneath the trauma of his childhood.

He shifted until he sat on the edge of the sofa. 

Dez sat up too, moving his hand to John's back tentatively, unsure whether John would shrug it away. He tensed slightly but didn't move.

"I'm sorry Johnny, that was insensitive of me." Apologised Desmond guiltily.

"No, no, it's alright Dez. My past is my past," Replied John with a small, uncertain, turn of the lips.

"I suppose I did have one tradition," Started John with a growing smile, "Mrs Oak from next door knew of the... _situation,_ not that she ever did anything, and not that I blamed her for it either, but when my Dad was out, I'd go out to the garden and she'd pass me a mince pie over the fence and we'd have a little chat and she'd ask how I was and say Happy Christmas. It was the closest I had to a tradition. The closest I had to Christmas."

Dez pulled John in, leaving a kiss on John's forehead, "Let's do that today, we'll make mince pies." Decided Dez.

"You've probably never even tried one!" Pointed out John, spirits lifting slightly.

"This can be the first time. Anyway, you can teach me." Encouraged Desmond.

"Dez, Google will teach you, I will just assist in the baking." Responded John, adopting a tone of fake grandeur. 

"Fine," Chuckled Dez, pulling John up from the sofa, "You find a recipe, I'll buy the ingredients if you clean up the kitchen."

"Ay ay Captain!" Saluted John, already trying to repress the bad memories that he'd just dug up.

"And Johnny," Began Dez as John looked at him inquiringly, "Thank you for telling me that, and I'm sorry for pushing you."

"It's fine Dez, I'm amazed it hasn't made you wanna run yet," Dez started to protest, "but thank you for listening, it- erm, well - is nice to have someone to help." 

John and Dez leaned in for a brief but meaningful kiss: affirming and reassuring. 

John searched up a recipe with more excitement than he expected, he sat on the chair nearest the Christmas tree, deciding that perhaps he could appreciate it and not scorn it, scrolling through Dez's phone for recipes. 

He didn't realise how much he had missed mince pies until Christmas rolled around and he couldn't find any in the supermarkets. 

"This recipe here, Dez." Pointed John as Dez walked over to him. 

"Nothing to difficult, we have most of it," Affirmed Dez, "Rum?" He questioned.

"Oh yes, lots of rum," Grinned John, "To soak the fruit in."

Dez nodded, partially surprised to hear there was fruit, intriguing him to the recipe.

"And to have a drink with as well." Added John, laughing when Dez tutted and sighed. 

Dez grabbed the tote bag off the side and his keys, "I won't be long." Giving a small peck on John's cheek before leaving to grab the ingredients.

John tapped his hands together, unsure of what to do. He grabbed his tea and walked over to the back of the loft and went on the small balcony, taking out a cigarette and lighting it, watching the street below at all the frantic shoppers and Christmas lights strung up in every available space.

After stubbing his cigarette out, and taking a strong slurp of his tea, he went back over to Dez's CD player, humming a tune, and fanned his eyes over the selection of albums. It was a half and half share, there was a section dedicated to his punk music, copies of The Sex Pistols, Ramones and The Clash being the most played which stayed a little away from Dez's Indie and Jazz albums.

Their music taste was one that bared the others, with the occasional crossover in genre or a comment of "Really? This is awful."

Near the end of the line of albums was a few Christmas CDs. Dez had bought John a rock Christmas CD but he laughed to himself when he imagined the stress of Dez baking to Metallica Christmas tunes. 

Instead, this was a sacrifice for love; John picked up the multi-disk of "Now That's What I Call Christmas" and put the first CD in the player, pressing pause so he didn't have to suffer the first CD alone.

John cleared the kitchen from breakfast and got out some of the things he figured they would probably have to use. As he was finishing, Dez came back with a bag and armful of shopping. 

"Honey I'm home." Called out Dez sarcastically, causing John to roll his eyes but chuckle lightly.

"I got the fruit, the eggs, the flour," Said Dez, laying it out on the counter, "And the rum."

John picked the bottle up, holding it high, "You beauty!"

Dez unpacked the rest of the ingredients, with John inspecting each item like he knew what he was looking for. 

Dez passed John an apron who sent a look that said "Really?" but he put it on, Dez came from behind to tie it around John's waist.

"Thanks daddy." Joked John after having his own apron tied for him. 

Dez pushed John's arm playfully, "Watch it Mr."  
John shoved Dez back in return, this was going to be unproductive.

"I almost forget Dez!" Exclaimed John, dashing over to the side of the room. He hit play on the player and the familiar bells of Mariah Carey filled the loft.

"I am _impressed_ Johnny." Admitted Dez with his hands on his hips.

"Just for you Dez." John smiled, holding his hands out. 

"Come on then, let's make a start." Beckoned Dez, mouthing the lyrics occasionally.

Dez placed the large mixing bowl in the middle of the counter whilst John weighed out the flour. Once it was measured, he put the flour in the bowl, a cloud of the dust appearing in the air.  
Dez waved his hand over the bowl in an attempt to clear the cloud.

"You wanted to make the pastry." Pointed out John, trying to stifle his laughter.

"Whatever." Replied Dez with fake annoyance. 

They both laughed and continued adding the ingredients, rather messily rubbing the butter and flour in the bowl. John even found himself tapping a foot to some of the Christmas songs. Then they added the sugar and egg, which was subtly supervised by Dez, and mixed it together.

John used his knuckle to scroll to the next set of instructions while Desmond popped the pastry (that they were both quite proud of) into the fridge. 

Cue another mixing bowl and a mountain of raisins, sultanas, spices, apple and sugar.

"It doesn't say how much rum to put in." Questioned Dez, double-checking the recipe.

"Just by eye I reckon." Answered John, flicking the cap off and pouring in almost half the bottle, "That'll do."

"That'll do." Repeated Dez as John put the bottle back - not before taking a quick swig.

"It says we're supposed to leave this overnight." Realised Dez with disappointment.

"Well good job your boyfriend is a petty-dabbler in the dark arts." Grinned John, rolling his sleeves up higher.

"What are yo-"

A string of latin - at least, that's what Dez thought it was - came out of John's mouth, hands focused at the bowl of fruit in front of him. The fruit bubbled and glowed, the rum disappearing as it soaked in. 

"There we go." Pronounced John, rubbing his hands together with pride.

"What did you do?" Asked Dez with bewilderment.

"Just focused a little time spell on the fruit so that it reacted to time differently. Never tried it on fruit before but there we go." Explained John in his usual tone.

Dez didn't really know what to say, "God I love you Johnny."

John's smile widened to his eyes as he placed a happy kiss on Dez's lips, "I love you too."

The pastry was taken back out of the fridge and John dusted the worktop with icing sugar dramatically from a height. 

Carefully, they both cut out circles and worked well together, putting the rolled out pastry in the tins with a generous scoop of the mincemeat in the middle. Dez was humming along with the music whilst they worked. 

"I found these in the store, wasn't sure whether you'd want them?" Offered Dez, holding out a star and christmas tree cookie cutter.

"Ah Dez, these are top." Praised John, never before so excited over a cutter, "We can use these for the topping."

Dez watched as John used the cutters, cutting out a star and Christmas tree and laying them on the top of the mince pies.  
Dez joined in, finding it all quite therapeutic, and after an egg wash, they put them in the oven, both bending over to watch them through the glass.

"Well we did pretty well Johnny." Said Dez as he looked at them baking.

"We certainly did, handsome." Replied John with a quick kiss on Desmond's cheek.

Dez wrapped his arm around John, pulling him in close. It was a little gesture but it's meaning wasn't lost on John. They stood there for a few minutes, comfortable in the silence, before Dez seemed to spring to his spirits.

"I love this song!" Cheered Dez, practically skipping over to the space in front of the CD player.

"Bublé, Dez?" Laughed John with surprise.

"Blue Christmas is a great Christmas song, and I love the trumpets in this cover!" Explained Dez, "Come on, Johnny, join me!"

"Nah, mate, I'm alright." Passed John.

Dez ran back over to John and grabbed his hand, "Come on Johnny."

John sighed but kept hold of Dez's hand, his excitement infectious. Somehow Dez had sneakily rewinded the song to the beginning and the trumpets returned to open the song. 

 

_I'll have a blue Christmas without you._

 

John and Dez gently rocked along to the verse, Dez twisting John round and back before returning his hand to John's waist. 

 

_Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me._

 

John even found himself holding his arm out for Dez to twirl under, causing laughter between them.

The song went into a loud trumpet section, so their dance became sillier during this interlude, sarcastic jazz hands and dramatic accentuated dance moves and the odd air-trumpet performance.

 

_And when those blue snowflakes start falling, well that's when those blue memories start calling._

 

They came back together and danced gently around the loft, still rocking to the song, and John moved his head to Dez's shoulder who could feel his smile.

The song came to a close and John placed a kiss on Dez's neck, "Thanks Dez, that was actually... _fun."_

Dez's smile widened and pulled John in for another hug. 

'God if Sara Lance could see me now' thought John, after remembering their last misadventure together and his almost brutish attitude. 

How things had changed. 

Then, suddenly, the alarm for the oven started beeping, so they dashed over, John grabbing a tea towel to take the tray out the oven. 

"Look at them Johnny!" Applauded Dez, despite working in a kitchen, he had a pride about him like this was the first time he'd baked something. Perhaps it was the excitement of making and trying something he had only heard of, or perhaps it was just the look on John's face that could only be described as content.

"There we are, Dez." John said as he placed them on one of the Christmas platters that Desmond owned. 

"You sit yourself down, and I'll make some tea and we can try them." Offered Dez

"Sounds good to me."

John almost jumped down on the sofa and put his feet on the coffee table. After a short while (since John taught Dez the importance of letting the tea stew) Dez came round the sofa with two mugs of tea and two mince pies on a plate which he balanced on his arm. 

He passed John a mince pie and he took the remaining one. They clinked their mince pies like they were glasses and took a mouthful.

"That is actually _really_ good." Decided Dez after a couple of bites.

"You can taste the rum." Smirked John, taking another bite, "I have missed you mince pie."

He held the festive treat to his eyeline, assessing its majesty, before scoffing the rest of it. 

It was now early evening and the sun had already started setting so the loft was flooded with a soft golden light, it was practically heavenly. 

"Dez," Started John,

"Yes Johnny?"

"Thank you for today. I realised earlier that this is the first Christmas I'm spending with someone I love, and someone who loves _me."_ Told John, flipping his lighter in his right hand as a habit and looked straight at Dez. 

"You deserve this-" John's face contorted slightly, "You _do_ Johnny, and I'm happy that I can share my Christmas with you. My punk-loving, baking, _sexy,_ fruit time-turning, warlock boyfriend." Smiled Dez, holding John's hand, stroking his thumb against his.

"Soaking that fruit may be the best thing I've done." Joked Constantine.

" _Master of the dark arts._ " Responded Dez jokingly. 

John simply replied with a long kiss on Dez's lips, his hand coming to cup Dez's face. After gently breaking away, their foreheads stayed touching for some moments after. Both with eyes shut, in a moment of peace. 

It was sweet and highly romantic and probably something John would make a face at a few months ago. 

But this was where John had found himself. Not wasting away in a bar, or exorcising demons, but on his sofa, in his apartment with his boyfriend whom he loved, and who loved him, eating the mince pies they had baked together, safe and warm. 

"Happy Christmas, love."  
"Merry Christmas, Johnny."

 

_Well I met someone who touched my soul and made my world brand new._  
_There's a part of me, a place inside that now belongs to you._  
_The love we found, the love we found, we carry with us so we're never quite alone._  
_It's true, wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed that! It took me three days to write it but it was well worth it - they are so fun to write. This fic did take a surprising about of research since I had to doublecheck the recipes and also do a bit of research.
> 
> Thank you to @baggythepanther8709 , @fight-me-boi , @juliecandothat2 and @happygirl2oo2 on Tumblr for answering my questions about the American awareness of mince pies, you were all so helpful!
> 
> The last song lyrics is the song "When Love Is Found/It Feels Like Christmas" from the Muppets Christmas Carol because I was listening to it and I figured it actually fit really well. I would seriously recommend both watching it but especially listening to it. Blue Christmas was Michael Buble's version (obviously the lyrics are the same but the composition is different.)
> 
> That just leaves me to say, Have a very Happy Christmas, and if you do not celebrate it, then have a very good day tomorrow and a Happy New Year.
> 
> Thanks for all the support I've had on A03 this year :) <3
> 
> Please leave a comment or kudos if you can and Happy Christmas


End file.
